Hall out for season; Hawks won't disclose details of Perry's absence

A season that's already going sideways took another serious hit for the Blackhawks on Thursday when the team announced that forward Taylor Hall will undergo knee surgery and miss the rest of the season.

If that's not enough, coach Luke Richardson refused to disclose why veteran forward Corey Perry was a healthy scratch in a 7-3 loss at Columbus on Wednesday and did not take part in practice Friday.

We're gonna keep that internal in the organization right now," Richardson said. "I'm not able to answer any more questions on that."

Connor Bedard and Nick Foligno said all of the players have no idea what is going on with Perry, who was acquired from Tampa Bay in a trade during the off-season. The gritty, hard-nosed forward has 4 goals and 5 assists and has averaged more than 14½ minutes of ice time.

"We've got a lot of young guys, so it's kind of a shock at first," Foligno said. "But it's (about) being a pro. This is an opportunity to do that. ...

"You have to learn how to block out a lot of that stuff, because as your career goes along there's more stuff that comes up - trust me. ... It's probably a good lesson in a lot of ways in refocusing here as a group."

Hall, who was acquired in the off-season in a trade with Boston, played in just 10 games for the Hawks, scoring 2 goals and recording 2 assists. Richardson said Hall's knee became more and more unstable and finally gave out at practice Tuesday.

It's a significant loss for the Hawks, who are 5-12-0 overall and on a five-game losing streak heading into Friday's contest against Toronto at United Center.

"He's a former MVP," Richardson said. "And with his speed and strength on the power play it helped Connor (and) the younger guys see what a skilled guy can do with speed and skill on the puck.

"He's a quiet guy - he doesn't say a lot - but when he says something he's been around long enough it's worth a lot of value to the team."

The Hawks also placed forward Andreas Athanasiou on injured reserve, retroactive to Nov. 9.

The team recalled forwards Joey Anderson and Cole Guttman from Rockford. Anderson leads the IceHogs with 7 goals and 9 assists.